(somewhat) healthy baking, cooking and creating for a family on a budget

Tag Archives: cookies

Hey there! I’m SO happy to see you reading my blog and I hope that I can help inspire you, while I show you my journey.

Baking powder biscuits-a quick family favorite

So far I have touched down on a few things I enjoy making at home for me and my family to enjoy as meals and treats, but now I’m going to share with you one of my true passions in life- baking!

I have been an avid cookie maker for years, perfecting my timing almost down to the second on my chocolate chip cookies, chewy and moist, but firm enough to keep their shape. I have made jam jam cookies, modifying the recipe without anyone even noticing. I have made countless batches of oatmeal-type cookies to finally find the perfect one-only to make it even better, and with my kids over the years I have made dozens of cut out cookies from gingerbread in the winter time to sugar cookies any time of year.

I have been able to make good enough breads and loaves, using both a bread making machine to fully from scratch by hand, and somewhere in between by using my super duper stand mixer. We have a couple of favorites, and I plan to experiment a little bit with some of the recipes I have here in my box to make them tastier, healthier and all around better.

I have tried to make cakes and cupcakes and I have never heard any complaints…but until they say “wow, that’s just like grandma used to make” to me it won’t be good enough.

Gingersnaps

I have made pie crust from scratch a total of twice in my life, and plan to try it again and again until I also perfect that recipe (of course using the tried and true recipe found on my shortening or lard packaging) and have made home made pumpkin pie the family couldn’t seem to get enough of (topped of course with real whipped cream) and even a sweet potato pie that no one could tell wasn’t pumpkin.

I really hope that over the next months I can begin to share my passion for baking, especially cookie making and decorating. I also hope to share my learning experiences as I go along trying out new recipes and methods I find along the way.

In an attempt to make our food and family more healthy, and to try and get in more pulse foods (such as beans and lentils) I am trying an experiment using pulses in my cookie recipes.

Starting with a basic drop cookie dough adapted slightly from a recipe I found in an old cook book series, I am going to try to replace eggs, fats and sugars with alternatives without altering the taste too much. Which cookie dough will be best, or will I wind up creating my own in the process? This is one experiment I am attempting on my own, but be assured the children will be part of the taste test crew, as well as baking crew on various other projects.

The first basic dough I used was a simple drop cookie dough, chocolate chip. I imagine these will be hard to keep the original flavor, as there aren’t many flavors in them to begin with, unlike other cookies that may have spices to liven them up and change the taste (and maybe cover up any not so good or different tastes).

I started the usual way, by creaming together the sugars and margarine. Usually I will add the eggs next, but I accidentally started adding the dry ingredients before the eggs. Lucky for me, the dough still turned out great. I then add the dry ingredients in three small batches, and mix fully. Finally I add the chocolate chips (or whatever other chip I may be using for the cookie) and drop by spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. I usually use parchment paper to help keep clean up quick and easy, and I also find my cookies bake more evenly on the bottom.